Saturday, March 14, 2009

Minam River Wedding

As you can all see from my profile, I got married at the rather “late” age of 51. And it wasn’t your typical wedding, either. It was an extremely adventurous affair at best! One thing about Mr. Squash and I - we have a lot of adventures and they always seem to turn out memorable. So I thought for some of the “lean blogging” times I’m going to have while major quilt projects are put on hold during the sale of our house that I would tell you the tale of our Minam River Wedding. Now, PW I am not. No Black Heels to Tractor Wheels story here, but one worth telling and will most likely make you smile. So sit back with a cup of tea or coffee, and maybe one of Penny’s Banana Peanut Butter Muffins and enjoy this story that I will bring to you in parts.

Minam River Wedding - Part 1

We had been together for several years and had our ups and downs, but one day while sitting in the living room enjoying the late afternoon sunshine, we looked at each other and realized that we were very happily enjoying our life together. In fact we enjoyed it so much, that we decided it was time to get married.

So what does one plan for an “over 50” wedding? Go to the courthouse? No, that would be too banal and simple. Get married in a church? No, too structured and having no children for either of us or even family nearby, too fussy. Have an outdoor ceremony in the local arboretum? Well, sounds good, but who would marry us and how could we predict a nice day in the Pacific Northwest? No again.

I then remembered our friends Otis and Teresa who ran the Minam Lodge in the Eagle Cap Wilderness of Northeast Oregon. Didn’t Otis tell us at one time that he was a minister of sorts? What about asking him to marry us in a ceremony on the Minam River? Oh, my, yes! Now that appealed to us!

We had spent several fly fishing vacations up at the Minam thus far. Otis and Teresa, became great friends with us the instant we met them. Otis is quite the character. He could sell you anything and during his life has done just that - cars, pianos, hunting permits to name a few. He is also very proud of (as well he should be) of his sobriety over the past 20 years. He’s helped many people along the way and continues to do so. And he is one heck of a storyteller!

So we called Otis during the off-season and posed the question - would you marry us up at the Minam? Long pause over the telephone. Otis - you okay? Otis congratulated us - then in spits and sputters wanted to know why we asked him to perform the ceremony! We explained that we thought he mentioned at one time he was a minister. He laughed and said it was probably one of his stories! He apologized and thanked us for thinking of him and said perhaps they could help us find someone around the area to perform the ceremony. Teresa was on another extension and exclaimed - whoa doggies - maybe Otis CAN do it! Another long pause from Otis. She suggested that they get Otis ordained as a minister over the Internet! We heard a loud thump and thought maybe Otis had fallen over at that point!

After some discussion, they agreed they would research the possibilities of getting Otis ordained and get back to us. We agreed that we would pay any fees they incurred as long as it would be a legal ceremony. Stay tuned for part two...